Premixed precursors to tailor porosity in porous carbons for improved capacitive properties: Towards predicting the texture properties of carbonaceous matter

Abstract

It is important to tune the texture properties of porous carbon to improve the specific capacitance and understand the activation behaviors of the carbonaceous matter. Herein, the specific surface area of the porous carbons derived from pine sawdust (PS)/polypyrrole (PPY) blends was higher than that which might be obtained with either precursor alone. Porous carbons characterized by ultrahigh specific surface areas (as high as 3382.60 m2/g) and total pore volumes (as high as 2.12 cm3/g) were prepared from the premixed precursors. The texture properties can be tuned by selecting the ratio of the premixed precursors, which is feasible to yield porous carbon with high specific surface area and high mesoporosity under the same activation conditions. The elemental composition of the precursors, especially the C element content and O/C ratio, are crucial factors in establishing the specific surface area and mesoporosity development. The properties of the as-fabricated porous carbons were studied, and it was observed that when the current density was 0.5 A/g, the specific capacitance of the porous carbon derived from a 1:1 mixture of PPY and PS (PPYPS11C) was 373.75 F/g when determined using the three-electrode system and 242.55 F/g when determined using the two-electrode system. Moreover, PPYPS11C exhibited good cycling stability, with a high energy density of 33.69 Wh/kg at 626.42 W/kg. This work offers a novel approach to tailor the texture properties of porous carbon to match specific applications such as supercapacitors.